European regional assessment: listed as Near Threatened because although the species appears to be expanding in central Europe, the species is declining rapidly in the surrounding areas due to habitat loss, thus making the species close to qualifying for Vulnerable.

EU 27 regional assessment: listed as Near Threatened because although the species appears to be expanding in central Europe, the species is declining rapidly in the surrounding areas due to habitat loss, thus making the species close to qualifying for Vulnerable.

This species is found throughout much of Europe but it is largely absent in the south and west. The strongest populations are in central Europe. In Hungary this species is widespread all over the country wherever wooded plant societies occur (O. Merkl pers. comm. 2009). In Italy it has been recorded from three sites in the south (Ratti 2006). In Finland only two or three populations exist. A single locality is known in Spain, from the 1960s (Español 1963); it has never been found again.

Luce (1996) suggests that sites in southern Europe are mistaken identifications of C. haematodes, although he provides no evidence in support of this opinion. Both species are recorded from Italy, which suggests that the records are genuine.

The species is expanding in central-eastern Europe but declining in the surrounding areas. In the Czech Republic there are strong populations due to withering
poplar plantations; it is the same situation in most parts of central Europe. In Germany, in the eastern part it seems common. In Hungary populations in hilly and mountainous broad-leaved forests
and indigenous or planted pine forests are mostly small; populations in
riverine willow galleries and indigenous or planted poplar plantations
are often much stronger (O. Merkl pers. comm. 2009). In Ukraine it is considered very rare.

In Spain two specimens were collected in a single locality in the 1960s and it has never been found again (Español 1963). Very rare or presumably extinct in Spain (M. Méndez pers. comm. 2009).

This is an obligate saproxylic species. Larvae and adults live under bark of deadwood of a variety of broad-leaved trees: Quercus, Acer,Populus, and rarely Pinus. The adults and larvae are saproxylophagous, feeding on the decaying wood, but are sometimes reported as necrophagous or predatory (A. Putchkov pers. comm. 2009). The species needs open spaces and prefers lowland areas with soft-wooded broad-leaves. The adults and older stages of larvae hibernate under bark on the deadwood. In Romania larvae develop under very decayed bark of aspen Populus tremula trees with the fungi Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Ceratocystis etc. The adult is active in May - June. Young beetles appear in July - August (Nikitsky et al. 1996). In Hungary it occurs in all kinds of indigenous and planted forests, including hilly and mountainous broad-leaved forests, pine, poplar and black locust tree plantations, city parks, alleys or in solitary trees along roads (O. Merkl pers. comm. 2009). In Finland it lives in old-growth forests in old aspen trees.

The main overall threat is degradation or loss
of habitat quality, involving structural changes in the tree populations arising
from changing land use – affecting age structures and tree density.
Exploitation from forestry is often a key immediate issue, but equally damaging
can be long-term changes towards canopy closure as a result of non- or minimum-intervention management systems. Fragmentation and increasing isolation of
beetle populations are also key factors.In Hungary removal of dead wood is a key threat, but the species is
widespread and quickly colonizes new habitats (O. Merkl pers. comm. 2009). In Ukraine a negative factor is the felling and destruction of old trees. In Finland populations are within protected areas, but the species is threatened by insufficient continuum of large aspen and poor possibilities of colonizing new areas.

This species is listed on Appendix II of the Bern Convention and Annex II and IV of the EU Habitats Directive. It is accordingly legally protected in many countries, for example in Hungary. The species occurs in several protected areas (e.g. Hungary, Finland). In Finland it is listed as Critically Endangered and in Poland as Least Concern. It is planned to included this species in the Red Book of Ukraine.